Fergus Greene ready to make his mark with Western Bulldogs

Two years ago Fergus Greene was dropped from the Sandhurst under-18 team. On Monday, he’ll shake hands with Luke Beveridge and Bob Murphy and start his AFL career with the reigning premiers the Western Bulldogs. Read more here.

Three teens charged after chase

A third teenager arrested at the weekend following a high speed chase towards Bendigo has now been charged. Read more here.

Golden Square, White Hills pools to partner

The future of the Golden Square Community Pool is looking more assured after its management committee announced a partnership with the White Hills Swimming Pool for the 2016/17 season. Read more here.

Kids push skate park in Epsom

A 12-year-old boy has won the ear of council in his push to get a skate park built in Epsom. Read more here.

Ambulance funds flow to central Victoria

A new ambulance service will be established to support the small rural communities of Pyramid Hill, Lockington and Dingee as part of a $500 million state government investment announced at the weekend. Read more here.

State of the nation

► TAMWORTH, NSW: One of Tamworth’s newest surgeons has a vision to stem a common and blinding disease by bringing a very rare operation to the country.Ophthalmic surgeon, Dr Deric De Wit has worked in Berlin, Belfast and London, and now he has brought his unique skillset to the New England North West – treating glaucoma with viscocanaloplasty. Read more.

► BALLARAT, VIC: The chair of Commerce Ballarat David Wright has accused the state government of trying to play “Santa Claus” at the cost of local businesses. His words come in the wake of the government announcing it has reversed its decision not to declare Christmas Day a public holiday after conceding it made the wrong call.Read more.

► PORT PIRIE, SA: It could have been a rallying cry at a union stopwork meeting. “It is not another ‘sickie’,” thundered Australian Workers Union state secretary Peter Lamps over the microphone. He was responding to criticism that has been levelled against a new proposal to give workplace leave to domestic violence victims. Read more.

► ILLAWARRA, NSW: A monkey stolen from a Helensburgh wildlife park at the weekend has been found alive, but two others remain missing. Police were called to Symbio Wildlife Park about 8am Saturday, after staff discovered three Pygmy Marmoset monkeys missing, including a four-week-old baby. Read more.

► ALLANSFORD, VIC: Allansford’s Andrew Freeman fears the region’s crumbling roads are a tragic crash waiting to happen. He and his family had a terrifying experience after hitting a divot, aquaplaning and crashing into a ditch. Mr Freeman, his wife Annmaree and 11-month-old daughter escaped injury – but he worries others may not be so lucky. Read more.​

► ALBURY, NSW: A Snapchat image of what appears to be two people urinating on Monument Hill has left Albury's Council and RSL representatives angry. The photograph, taken from behind the culprits, shows two males facing the structure. The wording reads “taking a piss on monument”. Read more.

► BUNBURY, WA: When you see the size of the crayfish these blokes are catching, it's a wonder they didn't sink their boat on the way back. A group of divers fishing off Bunbury have posted video footage of them plucking enormous western rock lobsters from the sea bed - some so big they barely fit inside their catch bags. Read more.

National news

► All Australian schools would reach their appropriate funding levels within seven years under a bold plan to cut taxpayer support for over-funded schools and ramp up support for disadvantaged schools. The report from the respected Grattan Institute says that, five years after the Gonski review was completed, Australia's school funding system remains a "mess" with big disparities between different states, schools and sectors. Read more.

► Tony Abbott has urged Malcolm Turnbull to revisit some of the aspects of the 2014 budget and toughen up his message on power prices in some end-of-year advice that will hover over the Turnbull government as it enters into the final parliamentary week for the year. Read more.

► So popular are weekend penalty rates that a startling 76 per cent Australians who don't get them want them to stay. A ReachTEL poll of 3273 households conducted on Friday night found that, even among Coalition supporters, the proportion supporting penalty rates was 58 per cent. Among Labor voters it was 90 per cent and Greens voters 89 per cent. Read more.

National weather radar

International news

► The Australian embassy in Cambodia granted Australian passports to at least five babies born to surrogate mothers after being presented falsified documents, Cambodian authorities say.Read more.

► Bill Shorten will ramp up his foreign worker fight as the Turnbull government tries to push its signature industrial relations legislation past a cranky crossbench during the final week of Parliament. The Labor leader will introduce a private member's bill seeking to crack down on the 457 visa program on Monday, in a bid to set the agenda and embarrass the government over the issue. The Migration Amendment (Putting Local Workers First) Bill 2016 would introduce stronger labour market testing and tougher criteria for licensing 457 workers, and give ministers more power to grant and revoke labour agreements. It would also impose tougher restrictions on employers. Read more.

On this day

November 28, 1811: 205 years ago today, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, also known as the Emperor Concerto, was performed for the first time in Leipzig, Germany. It was Ludwig van Beethoven's last piano concerto. Listen to all three movements of the concerto here:

The faces of Australia: Sharran Makin

It has been a difficult few years for former emergency services worker Sharran Makin, of Redhead, who so many times thought about giving up.

Times are still tough – but Ms Makin found solace in her artwork.

And she has reason to smile after just winning a national photographic competition, organised by the Macular Disease Foundation, for her photograph of a team of horses majestically running through water on the Central Coast.

It is in stark contrast to two years ago when the mother-of-two wasn’t able to pick out her own art.

She couldn’t remember.

“I was at an exhibition and I turned to a friend and said, ‘That’s a great piece, whose is it?’” Ms Makin said.

“She turned back to me and said, ‘It’s yours’. I didn’t even notice my own artwork on the wall. That’s how bad it was.” Read more.